Licensing

The following terms apply to licensing fees which may be part of obtaining a character license:

Any licensing fees for a character must be paid in full before the character is licensed.

Acceptable payment types and amounts will be visible on the character's page. If paying in real life currency, United States Dollars (USD) are required.

If paying through PayPal or Stripe, a valid email to send an invoice to is required.

If a licensing fee is over $100, financing may be available.

No materials or characters which are part of EvoCrit are considered standalone products. Access and licenses require a non-banned EvoCrit account. Any characters are individually licensed to a single user for the duration of the licensing period. This is indefinite, but can be terminated for reasons including but not limited to:

TOS violation in any EvoCrit-related project.

TOS violation on any evocrit.com site

TOS violation in an offsite EvoCrit-related community.

Violations of conditions on continued use after EvoCrit administrative action.

Violations of intellectual property rights related to any EvoCrit or Aquapyron project.

We reserve the right to terminate license(s) at any time for any reason, though we will try to provide a reason should we be forced to terminate.

Previous Designs

All EvoCrit-related designs which were obtained prior to these Terms will also be subject to them upon agreement. A design is EvoCrit-related if it is part of a project or species which is currently part of EvoCrit.

Use

Characters created for EvoCrit projects are permitted to be used in:

The project they are created for

An ARPG or similar setting if authorized by EvoCrit administration.

World Status is used as a shorthand to denote whether such authorization may be granted:

Inaccessible World: Authorization will never be granted, under any circumstances.

Isolated World: Authorization may be granted, for specific settings. These specific settings will generally be listed on the project.

Restricted World: Authorization may be granted, pending certain criteria, and on direct request to EvoCrit administration.

Accessible World: Authorization is automatically assumed to be granted, however there will be rules about when this authorization is not granted, or if the authorization is changed.

Regardless of whether authorization is granted, you are able to commission or create images, etc. with other characters, just note that non-canon images will not count for project currency and images should still not contain content that is not allowed for the species/project.

You may not use an EvoCrit character which is not approved or has a terminated license in any way.

Changes

Much of the characters' designs are set in stone at the time of their creation, to maintain consistency with the source material on their evocrit.com source. However, under certain circumstances, users may be permitted to make certain changes to the designs of the characters licensed to them, limited to:

Minor wardrobe or outfit changes, if the outfit is not a key component of the project or species, and pending approval by EvoCrit administration.

Changing hairstyles, if the hairstyle is not a key aspect of the project or species, and pending approval by EvoCrit administration.

Addition or removal of accessories, if they do not play a key role in the project, species, or source material, and pending approval by EvoCrit staff.

Any changes not expressly listed are forbidden, unless explicitly pre-approved by EvoCrit administration.
Key aspect or role is defined as anything that affects the character's abilities, how they are perceived by those around them, or anything that is integral to the character's species (for example, a Hood Pup's hood). Changes can be requested by going to a character's EvoCrit profile. Changes related to any project can be requested through the project, once the criteria listed for that change are met.

Should major changes to the traits or structure of a species or project occur, any characters related to that project or species will have their appearances adjusted accordingly, and all of a licensee's future materials involving such characters should reflect that.

Offsite Posting

Licensees are permitted to create and post art of any licensed character at any stage of development that the character has reached or passed. However, they are required to remove any materials they have posted should the license be terminated.

Posting the original art or materials, including materials from EvoCrit and materials posted by EvoCrit administration on other sites, on any site can result in the immediate termination of any or all licenses held by the licensee in violation of these rules. Exceptions may be granted, with the explicit pre-approval of EvoCrit administration.

Licensees can request that their characters be crossposted to another site by sending an email to admin@evocrit.com with their usernames and which characters they would like posted.

MYOs

In the case of "make your own" characters, "create your own" characters, or similar, where a user is permitted full control over the designing of a new character with given restrictions (such as traits or use of a specific file):

Intellectual property rights of all characters created through "MYOs" are held exclusively by aquapyrofan.

Users are permitted to use the characters they create through these "MYOs" in the Aquapyron or EvoCrit project they were created for, as well as any related projects and non-Aquapyron projects per EvoCrit rules (see "Use").

Characters must not violate intellectual property rights of any individual or company and must not be based on existing characters.

All other EvoCrit Terms apply.

Design Slots

In the case of "design slots", where a user is permitted to create their own design for a character with pre-determined traits:

Intellectual property rights of all characters created through "design slots" are held exclusively by aquapyrofan.

Traits are not allowed to be altered from the species or project information.

Users are permitted to use the characters they create through these "design slots" in the Aquapyron or EvoCrit project they were created for, as well as any related projects and non-Aquapyron projects per EvoCrit rules (see "Use").

Characters must not violate intellectual property rights of any individual or company and must not be based on existing characters.

All other EvoCrit Terms apply.

Customs/Semi-Customs

In the case of customs and semi-customs, where a design is created with some input from a user:

Anything heavily based on or using the name of a trademarked or copyrighted property will be stripped or, if possible, genericized.

Anything breaking the Content Guidelines will be stripped.

Anything impossible for or contradicting guidelines of the species or project will be stripped.

EvoCrit administration reserves the right to take minor creative liberties with requested details in a semi-custom, or custom.

Infringing Characters

Any licensed Character that was created with input from the licensee (through a MYO, design slot, semi-custom, etc.) that is found to be based in part or whole on a trademarked or copyrighted property will have their license immediately terminated, and the licensee may face termination of other licenses. This does not apply if the basis is minor or generic enough.

Transfer of License

EvoCrit character licenses are non-transferable. Characters must be individually re-licensed to another user for a license transfer to take place. The following rules apply to license transfers using this method:

Characters are not allowed to be sold for real world currency or any currency which can be transferred to or purchased using real world currency.

This includes "vouchers", where the trade involves purchasing art, characters, or other goods or services to trade for the character.

Characters are not allowed to be sold for any offsite currency, items, or goods of any kind.

Characters may be traded onsite or through EvoCrit-related communities, for any EvoCrit currency, character, or item, or offsite characters, as long as the trade rules are followed.

Trades may not break the TOS or rules of another website, artist, or other entity.

Content Guidelines

The following content is barred from EvoCrit in all forms, with no exceptions:

Drug references and drug use

Illegal content (including intellectual property violations)

Mature content, including but not limited to sexually explicit content

Hate speech or symbols, harassing content, public call-outs or "PSAs", and drama-inciting content

Certain projects may restrict the following content, which will be listed in their rules:

Alcohol references or use

Gore

Violence

Content which breaks these rules, depending on type, severity, and number of infractions, may receive the following administrative actions (or others not listed) as applicable:

Termination of a license

Termination of all licenses

Removal of a user's submission

Removal of all of a user's submissions

Removal of a user's avatar

On-site warnings

EvoCrit account banning or termination

Legal action or reporting to legal authorities

To report someone in violation of these rules, please send an email to admin@evocrit.com with any relevant information.

Exploits and Loopholes

Using glitches, bugs, or unexpected effects from code ("exploits") to deliberately gain items, project currency, or any form of unfair advantage is forbidden. Exploits will be patched when possible, and can be reported (along with suspected abuse) to admin@evocrit.com. Additionally, other methods of gaining an unfair advantage or doing things which are unintended, such as cheating, scamming, or abusing loopholes in the rules are forbidden. If a user is found to be cheating, scamming, or intentionally using exploits to gain advantages, their account will be terminated.

Termination of Licenses

Should a licence be terminated, there will be no compensation for any licensing fees from EvoCrit or its administrators.

Alteration of the design associated with a terminated license to convert them to another species without making SIGNIFICANT changes to design, marking, AND color scheme is forbidden, and can result in the termination of any or all licenses held by the licensee in question.